Thunder Among the Pines:Defining a Pan-Asian Soma^

Frederick Dannaway*

Abstract —Many ancient cultures and religions engaged in various techniques and used varioussubsiances to instigate religious experience and to alter perception. These techniques of psycho-sexualdrug yoga reached an unparalleled level of sophistication that arose and was often cloaked in practicalterms of alchemy and metallurgy. The Vedic tradition describes this plant-based ritualism as .wma.which has been itlentiüed by Gordon Wasson as the mushroom Amanita muscaria. This article tracesthese jomii-influenced sects of esoteric Buddhism Ihat exerted influences from India.'China and Tibetto Japan. Some of the key components, practices and symbolism are retained despite numerous culturalfilters. Japan's tradition of esoteric Buddhism can thus be seen to bave pre.served and incorporated thesomalamrita mushroom lore into its own traditions of mountain ascetic mystics.

Keywords—.4m<i/7jríí muscaria, esoteric Buddhism/Tantra. Japanese ethnomycology, soma

The works of Joseph Needham on Silk Road transmis-sions of science, civihzation and religion are the startingpoint for this theory of a common, ancient entheogeniclegacy that survived into Medieval Japan in the foim ofTantric esoteric Buddhism, Needham's evidence, with afew notahle exceptions (Spess 2(X)0), has not been specifi-cally treated by scholars of entheogenic studies. This factis surprising as his work on alchemy combines argumentsof early transmissions of religious practices that includedsexual yoga, entheogens, and "macrobiotics" as core doc-trines that spread from the dawn of civilization across theancient world. Needham (1974) writes of some points thatneed to be addressed:

The idea of a herb of immortality was not at all a new in-vention of Indo-lranian cultures, for we can find it already inthe Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh. datable before 2000 B.CE.What relation that legend had to hallucinogenic mushrooms or

tThanks to Victor Mair. Mike Crowley. Mark Hoffmann ITI, theDelaware Tea Stxriety, and Laura Hoinowski.

*L'niversity of Delaware,Please address correspondence and reprint requests to Frederick R.

Dannaway. 10 Pimlico Coun. Hockessin. DE 19707,

other plants remains completely in the dark, but an extrapola-tion backwards would make such a connection not at all im-plausible.

His discussion then draws upon the investigations ofWasson and Michel Strickmann (1966) whose researchdoes suggest a Taoist cult of entheogenic mushrooms. Amost interesting supposition, especially for the theory of acontinued Japanese soma, comes from Dubs ( 1947 ; 1961 asquoted by Needham) who suggests that the "Indo-lraniansotna-haoma was the trigger for the searches of the FirstEmperor of the Han Wu Ti, even it was only a stimulusdiffusion" (Needham 1974). Anticipating the hopeless taskof separating out which geographic group was earliest andmost influential, Needham ( 1974) writes ". . . whatever newsit was that came from Persia or India . . . the properties ofAmanita muscaria or related fungi were indeed known to,and used by ancient Taoists, perhaps also medieval ones,though it will be no easy task to reveal the details, doubtlessamong the most secret arcane of the Tao Tsang."

The Taoist traditions of China and Japan are fusedtogether in the tales of before Common Era emperors of

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China who dispatched envoys abroad to find the Isles of theImmortals (Penglai) and to find the source for the "Elixirof Immortality." which Needham surmises is a mushroom.This occurred in the reign of Shih Huang Ti (219 B.C.) whodispatched one Hsu Fu. in Japanese Jofuku; Needham thinksit probable that he and his people settled in Japan as theynever returned to China and there is a tomb of Jofuku inKyoto (Needham 1974). Needham's exhaustive argumentson the blurring of alchemical symbolism with entheogenicsoma-haoma cults is simply too massive to recount here. Buthe recounts later legends of these Taoist "plant of immortal-ity" missions, in the text "magic mushrooms that nourishthe spirit" {yang shen chih), as clearly partaking of this trulyancient heritage (Needham 1974). His works discussing theearlier dates of Tantra, such as the commonly cited origins ofseventh century CE (Davidson 2003; Bhattacharyya 1982)and the influence of Taoism on Tantrism are essential tolink this "esoteric technology" with an ancient current thatpersisted into Tibet and Japan.

AMANITA MUSCARIA:REVIEW OF LITERATURE ON RITUAL USE

Gordon Wasson's revolutionary identification of theVedic soma plant as Amanita muscaria not only founded thediscipline of ethnomycology but it also helped change ourunderstanding of the most basic principles of religion. Manysee psychoactive plants as inciting the religious impulse inhumanity in the earliest forms of primordial shamanism (LaBarre 1980; Wasson 1968) and the world's oldest knownreligious literature, the Vedas, sing devotional hymns to thispsychoactive Soma. The mushroom has been implicated inrites of Greek mysteries by Ruck (Wasson et al. 1978), as thefoundation of Christianity by Allegro (1970), as well as incountless magic, ritual and divination systems the world over(Pendell 2005; Ott in Wasson et al. 1986). Wilson (1999) hastraced the "sacred drift" of the Indo-European mushroomcult and found an lúúvsoma. and Heinrich (1995) has tracedthe symbolism into Grail mythos and European alchemicaltradition. Hajicek-Dobberstein (1995) and Crowley (2005)have taken Wasson's foundation of Asian shamanism andVedic use and traced evidence of continued use in Tibetand China. Spess's (2000) work describes the Indo-Aryanentheogenic cults spread throughout the ancient world whileconfirming the research of scholars such as Wasson, Ruckand Needham on the symbolic connections with the alchemi-cal traditions that veil the botanical associations (thoughSpess argues for Nymphaea and Nelumbo, water lilies andthe lotus plant, as the primary candidates). Ruck (2006) hasalso traced mushrooms to the heart of many fairy tales.

That entheogenic sacraments can be found at the heartof most if not all of the world's major religions and mysterytraditions has far reaching implications on the dynamics thatmediate and control the religious and ecstatic experiencewhich were, perhaps, not so distinct in the past. The death

of Socrates (which has been possibly related to the reveal-ing of sacred knowledge of entheogenic rituals), the brutalInquisition (associated with botanical "witchcraft" (Müller-Ebeling, Ratsch & Storl 2003), and the modem War on Drugsindicate just some ofthe prejudice and persecution facing aplant oriented mysticism (Ruck in Wasson et al. 1986). Theobservations of the "friction" of entheogens and orthodoxBuddhism ofthe pioneer researcher Dr. Strassman as relatedin his article DMT and the Dharma reveals the complicatedrelationship between entheogenic explorers and "legitimate"traditions (Badiner 2002).

Alternative candidates for the somaJhaoma range frommetallurgical compounds/alloys (Kalyanaraman 2004) to arevisiting of the "ephedera" argument (Falk 1989) to pastarguments presenting such candidates as Cammbis sativa(Roy 1939).rhubarb (Stein ]93l),Nelumbo tiucifera (Sptss2000) or even the sun or moon (Hillebrandt 1927). Thereare too many plants associated with soma/haoma to give ad-equate attention to competing theories but a good synopsis ofthe discussion can be found in works by O'Flaherty (1968),Emboden (1980), and Flattery and Schwartz (1989).

TANTRIC PSYCHOSEXUAL DRUG YOGA

There is an inherently experimental dimension to muchof the Tantric/shamanic heritages that culminated in vari-ous religions and related traditions in India and China. Asscholars such as Eliade and Needham have exhaustivelydocumented, this mystical technology was expressed andconcealed in alchemical and metallurgical language. Thisesoteric semiotics can be found from ancient India, intoChina and in the esoteric Islamic Shia and Sufism and thusinto the Western "mystery" tradition of Middle Ages elixiralchemy (Needham 1976). These arts came to encompassboth internal and external alchemical transmutations ofemotions and sexual energy into higher spiritual states andpreserve techniques that are remarkably similar betweenTaoist to Buddhist to Tantrika. They often shared manyof the same herbs and similar systems of healing, martialarts, and cosmologies and many followed similar asceticpractices and macrobiotic hygiene as well as a fondnessfor what Giradot calls a "mystical primitivism" expressedin their fondness for rugged terrains, wilderness and remotemountains. Many of the Taoists and Buddhists culminatedinto practices of seclusion in dark caves which itself issuggested as producing an entheogenic state comparableto that produced by DMT, as modem investigators such asTerrence McKenna and Taoist teacher Mantak Chia (2006)and others describe. This practice, of self-enclosure in thedark, needs serious scientific inquiry as the implications ofan endogenous DMT ritual are quite profound and referencesto such practices abound in various esoteric traditions butespecially in Tantric Buddhism.

The controversies as to the origins of sexual yoga mightbe laid to rest by a careful reading of Needham's arguments

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and observations. He gives examples such as the Mohenjo-Daro civilization, in the third millenniunii BCE, whichcreated statues of "yogis" and naked yogitiis sitting in thelotus position, which Needham suggests "are the predeces-sors of the Shakti consorts," His evidetice continues throughinstances in the Atharva Veda of sexual yogic priests, thevratya, who used sexual yoga with their prostitute consortsipumscali), which Needham calls the original devadasis.Scholars who interpret data through political contexts andfull blown crystallizations of dextrine will insist on a seventhcentury CE date for Tantra. However, Neeham writes that"Tantrism of Asanga flourished at 400 CE and was trans-lated into Chinese as early as 5th century" but says theseare based on older texts such as the known Guhya-samajaTantra ascribed to the thiid century CE (Needham 1983}. Tantra didnotjust arise in a vacuum nor was it limited intemisoftegions.

Entheogenic plant substances have a unique quality inuniting the primordial, "chaotic" associations of creationwith contrived and imposed qualities of civilization. Thesephilosophical polarities clearly come into play in the varioustraditions such as in various levels of Vedic duty, or dharma,or in China with its Confucian social order in which themystic is often in direct conflict with the state even if theirparticular religion enjoys its protection. Examples rangefrom Ihe wandering, hashish {charas} smoking sadhu withunkempt locks {jata) who shuns worldly matters to buildheat {tapa.s) and live off energy (prana) to the Taoist hermitcultivating inner spirits and living off chi and specifically"avoiding the grains" (higu) of post-agricultural society.Whereas theorists speculate as to the identity of the soma,there is no doubt that Chinese Taoists rarely hesitated in con-suming "magic mushrooms" and the massive Science andCivilization In China by Needham is fairly saturated withtheir various employments and uses along with other varioussubstances that would produce psychoactive effects, such asthe burning of hemp incense in Mao Shan rituals (Robinet1993; Needham 1974) as well as many other substances anddrugs used in the quest for immortality (Akahori 1989).

Buddha himself left his family and became a sadhu andno doubt experimented in the techniques of his master theShaivate Makkhali Gosala (560-484 BCE), who was said topractice "dance and divine drunkenness" (Storl 2004). ThisShaivate influence seems to have survived in Buddhism onlyupdated linguistically and cosmologically; many Tantricsects, such as in Nepal, join Shiva and Buddha into one.Buddha was protected by a cobra, the serpent kundalini forcecoiled at the base of the spine, during his deepest meditationthus linking him cleariy with this esoteric technology. Thelast line of the "hymn of the long haired sages" reads: 'TheWind-God churned it, and ground it, then the longhairedone drank the elixir from the vessel, together with Shiva"with the elixir being on par with the soma (Hartsuiker 1993).Tantra often calls for the aspirant to venture into unchartedterritory or as Bharati writes, "experimenting with one'sown mind" (Aldrich 1977).

Esoteric Buddhism is philosophically more Vedic andIndo-European with a common link being the "cosmicman" (the Sun Buddha of Tibetan and Japanese traditions)who unites the macrocosm, mesocosm and microcosm ina complicated and strenuous process that is best termed"alchemical," consisting of sexual yoga, ritual adoration(puja) and herbal-based alchemy. Buddhist alchemy droppedthe goal of metal transmutation and, in contrast to "Hindu"schools, became more internalized {rasayana) being "quiteidentical to the Taoist, Mahayana and Hindu hatha yogictechniques of urethral suction and the "hydraulic' raisingof the semen along the spinal column as in the Kundalinitradition. The Yogic tradition of Patanjali states that ausadhi'botanicals' are one of the four means to obtaining siddhis orpowers" (White 1996), An ancient Buddhist text speaks offive kinds of powers (riddhi): those attained by being inborn,by the use of herbs {oshadhikrita). by spells, by activities,and by meditation (Aldrich 1977).

Tantric practice bridges these ontological rifts in themesocosmic aspirant who. through his/her alchemy, unitesthe niicrocosmic aspect with the macrocosmic in a processand language that is not typically associated with orthodoxBuddhism. But as both schools employ various techniquesranging from simple but intense chanting {mantra) tohighly ritualized use of "drugs and minerals" to transmutethemselves, they are not that different in theory. Amonitamuscaria is a special example of such drugs, being both apotential entheogen and cited as a medicinal herb in reju-venating therapy {rasayana) with its effects described ashallucinogenic and stimulating the nervous system, invok-ing "vivid dreams" and "recollections of old memories andsupernatural feelings (Puri 2003, 1977). Tantra. medicine,psychology and alchemy often converge into interdisciplin-ary practices that aid the adept to cultivate a sound mind andbody for longevity, which was an obsession from the earliestVedic periods to the immortal concerns of Taoists. Tibetanmedicine (gSoba Rig-pa), like Ayurveda, incorporates allthese aspects into a spiritual and healing Tantra. A work onthe subject. The Tibetan Art of Healing, which has a forwardby the Dalai Lama bimself, mentions the use oíAmanita inalchemical applications and mentions pilgrimage sites inTibetan borderlands that are brimming with magical plantsthat "bestow the eight siddhis and cause one to rememberpast lives" (Baker 1997).

Psychoactive substances, especially ones that engenderecstatic or terrifying, death-like experiences, were used inall aspects of the traditions from medicine to stimulant,sedative, entheogen for meditation, initiation ordeals andperhaps, (as discussed below), to aid in martial arts com-bat. The rich, ancient heritage of esoteric botany with thecontinuing mystical associations, especially of spontane-ously appearing fungi suddenly there for the adept to use,demonstrate that psychoactive substances played a criticalrole in the training of devotees. As Aldrich (1977) writes."Regardless of the preachings of contemporary orthodox

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swamis who urge their followers not to use drugs, thetradition of drug yoga is an ancient and honorable one inIndia, developed to its fullest extent in Tantric practice."These practices also include ascetic practices of strict di-ets, fasts, yoga and physical exertion, sensory deprivation,the "techniques of ecstasy" as discussed by Eliade (1972),and martial arts. Thus much of esoteric Buddhism, Tantraand Taoism is a systematic, organized shamanic trainingthat conditions the body and mind to be able to experiencehigher spiritual perceptions, in which entheogens played animportant role.

CHINESE MUSHROOM CULTS

Taoist Uterature makes frequent references to whatscholars often translate as "magic mushrooms" (ling chih).Despite pop-culture associations with this term it must beunderstood to literally be magic and capable of producinganything from immortality to visionary states to shamanicjourneys. The soma was certainly not just one plant ormushroom, as the multitude of descriptions of soma in thescriptures attest, but rather a complex of potent plants andhealthful, strengthening herbs that served as tonics for physi-cal and spiritual ills (RigVeda X.97.7; see Griffith 1896).Likewise, in China there was a complex of chih plants thatshared some ritual, entheogenic or medicinal correspon-dences that, like the soma, were described in alchemicalterms and possibly even prepared with gold. This no doubtirrevocably linked the plants with alchemical operations and"potable gold." Perhaps it is both the colors of the respectivemale and female genital fluids (sperm and menstrual blood)and the color of the Amanita muscaria of red and whitethat diffused throughout diverse alchemical traditions (thered/white polarity being the universal color scheme of thealchemical process: Heinrich 1995).

The most potent and sought after Chih plant wouldcertainly be mushrooms. As mentioned, both Wasson andNeedham suspected entheogenic fungi as one of the highestsecrets in Taoism in a tradition already obsessed with immor-tality and longevity. Health and spirituality are inseparablein Chinese culture. A long life was testament to a life livedin harmony with the Tao as well as providing the necessarylife span to complete the lengthy process of alchemy, internal{nei tari) or external {wei tan). Alchemical language, bornof truly archaic metallurgical and proto-tantric cults, wouldcontinue to exert a dominant influence on these various reli-gions and cultures by perpetuating a belief in magic plantsthat were, to paraphrase Needham, passports to heaven andpossibly immortality.

Beyond many ancient texts of Taoist urine drinking(Needham 1983) and chih plants there is emerging evidenceof much earlier contact between Indo-Iranian and Chinesecultures (Mallory & Mair 2000). Needham and Wassonaccepted that the Chinese "plant of deathlessness" {pu ssuchih tshao) could be the agaric which grew under the "tree

of deathlessness" or birch (pu ssu chih shu). Mushrooms,shamanism and sexuality are found very early in Chineseliterature, such as the shamanistic invocations in the NineSongs of the third century. Here a "mountain goddess"is invoked by a shaman whose mission is to capture the"thrice-herb" in the mountains for, as Strickmann (1966)writes, "the goddess, his lover"; he records that the com-mentators state the plant is a mushroom. This little studiedaspect of goddess worship and entheogenic mushrooms inChina may well be the original source for proto-Tantricand Tantric schools that emerged in the "The Great China"(Mahacina). Needham (1983) describes this current as "re-ligious sexuality" or cinacara and as flowering into Tantra,with the important note that much of this philosophy wasalready present in Chinese mysticism since recorded history.This erotic mysticism whieh developed into Tantra properemerged in Buddhism as early as the third century CE andspread through Asia (Payne 2006).

Evidence of mushrooms as hallucinogens and aphro-disiacs are also found in a text from the third century CEinvolving a certain Chiao-fu and two nymphs of the BlueRiver (Strickmann 1966). The hero falls in love with thepair and issues forth the following verses of poetry:

I will put in a basketThese pineapples, these oranges.And entrust them to the waters of the River Han.Downstream they float. I go along the bank.I pluck and eat the mushroom:Thus you know I won't be polite:I watit to ask you for girdle-gems.

At this point the nymphs quote his poetry back to him andvanish after presenting him with their gem laden girdles.Striekmann notes that this story is charged with themes ofancient fertility rites, and it must be mentioned that somedescriptions of soma have it growing near water (Frawley2006). Other sexual themes follow mushroom lore in China,such as is found in the the Classic of Mountains and Seas(Shan Hai Ching), which Striekmann (1966) describes asfrom an "early and unknown date." Here another nymph, YaoChi, dies a virgin and is "apotheosized as the Goddess of theMountain of the Sorcerers. Her spirit became the plant Yao,of which the fruit is the sacred mushroom. The mushroomis described here as a love-charm, enabling its possessorto seduce whomever he wishes. Striekmann's research onChinese mushroom cults recounts many cultural themes thatfollow this relationship of goddess worship and sexualityas well as deducing that many Taoist visionary experiencesare instigated by hallucinogenic mushrooms.

The syncretic nature of these religions is foundin the Tripitaka (Ta Tsang) in words of the BuddhistMaster Ssu of the Southern Sacred Mountain who wasthe teacher of Chhen Te-An, founder of the Tien-Taisect of Buddhism. His blending of Taoist alchemicaland Buddhist concepts, more fully discussed below.

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with magic mushroom lore can be found in the followingpassage:

"I am now going into the mountains to meditate and practiceau.sterities, repenting of ihe numerous sins and infractions ofthe Law which have been so many obstructions to the Tao,b{)th in my present and previous incarnations. I am seeking forthe longevity in order to defend the Faith, not in order to en-joy worldly happiness. I pray that all the saints and sages willcome to my help, so that I may get some good magic mush-rooms, and numinous elixirs (shen tan), enabling me to cureall illnes.ses and to stop both hunger and thirst. In this way Ishall be able to practice continually the way of ihe Sutras andto engage in the several forms of meditations. I shall hope lofind a peaceful dwelling in the depths of the mountains, wilhenough numinous elixirs and medicine to carry out my plans.Tlius by the aids of external elixirs Iwai tan) I shall be able tocultivate the elixir within {nei tah)" (Needham 1983).

The eighth century eccentric Buddhist hermit-poetCold Mountain (Han Shan) writes of his deep retreat in themountain:

Relaxing below Cold Cliffthe surprises are very specialliiking a basket lo gather wild plantsbringing il back loaded with fruitspreading fresh grass for a simple mealnibbling on magic mushroomsrinsing my ladle and bowl in a poolmaking a stew from scrapssitting in sunshine wrapped in a robereading the poems of the ancients (Porter 2000).

Scholars such as Strickmann and Needham, with the aidof Wasson, note the continued use of psychotropic drugsin ancient Taoist practices that persisted until at least me-dieval times. The revolutionary alchemists and herbalistsof the Mao Shan traditions from the first century BCE pro-duced scriptures which Needham (1974) says were "aidedalmost certainly by cannabis"; he notes that Lady Wei ofthe Southem Peak, a founder of Taoist liturgiology was "agreat teacher of meditation and psychotropic drugs." A sixthcentury example from the Wu Tsang Ching {Needham 1980)says, "If you wish to command demonic apparitions to pres-ent themselves you should constantly eat the inflorescencesof the hemp plant." Robinet's (1993) work contains constantreferences to magic mushrooms and magic plants fromremote regions that the adept must seek out and consume.Wasson (1968) references an incident of a Cbinese officialnamed Lu Yu (1125-1209) who seemed to be against thefungal use of the Manicheans. As Ott (1995) writes:

The Chinese, as is well known, are hardly mycophobes, andsurely there mu.st have been something special about thosered mushrooms to have attracted the opprobrium of Lu Yu(Manichaeism was introduced into China in the late seventhand early eighth centuries, and had considerable impact on theTaoists, with their famous icon of the ling chih, or the "divinemushroom of immortality"). i

The strong influence tbat Chinese traditions exerted onother Asian countries, such as Korea, seems to also havebrought much of tbis esoteric influence. An example isthe Jade giris picking magic mushrooms in frescoes of tbeKoguryo tombs of the sixth and seventh centuries CE. AsNeedbam (1983) records, many Koreans studied in China,bringing back "special pharmaco-sexual techniques of theSilla masters."" Likewise in Burma an alchemical traditionpersisted to "work with fire" (aggiya) which, as again Need-ham writes, is oriented towards the attainment of zawgyi{=siddhil) hsien (supernatural powers) in Cbinese. tbrougbsexual arts and elixir drugs, such as were cultivated by theAri monks of Burma.

Needbam"s researcb also documents tbe extensiveinfluence of Chinese alchemy on the Arabs. Beyond mun-dane science and proto-chemical influences there is curiousmention of "laughing mad stones" from China that theArabs called al-hahit, which shows up in the Jabirian Cor-pus of alchemical scripts. This links in with Sbia esotericcults, as Jabir's master was the sixth Sbia Imam Ja'far ibnMuhammad and Jabir even has a whole book dedicated tothe subject, the Book of the Surprising (Kitab al-Bahit).Needham (1980) traces these legends back to a Chinesesource that describes a ballucinogenic mushroom tbat incitesuncontrollable laughter and even death with excessive doses.Clearly tbese associations with alchemists and mushroomsor similar entheogenic compounds and elixirs fairly saturat-ed tbe region continuing into Western alchemical traditions,which also are linked with musbrooms (Heinrieb 2002).

Chinese herbalists no doubt experimented with entbeo-genic plants from the earliest times. Taoist alchemists likeKo Hung, in works perhaps based on alchemical treatisesfrom Nagarjuna, describe many plants and their expectedeffects on the adept (Ware 1984). Dr. Li (1978) discussestbe literature of hallucinogenic plants in their diverse con-texts and uses among Taoists and sorcerers and the historyof the inclusion of mind-altering plants in Chinese herbáis.A continued use of such plants, such as evidenced above,provides ample possibilities for a continued use of entheo-genic mushrooms in regions infused with cuhs tbat retainedthe influence of the soma/haomo/ch\h plants.

BUDDHISM AND ENTHEOGENS:ESTABLISHING A CONTEXT

The father of etbnomycology Gordon Wasson basproposed the most reasonable suggestion of species forthe famed soma of the Vedic traditions with tbe mushroomAmanita muscaria. Though the debate as to wbat exact plantwas used or substituted will no doubt rage on, tbe mostimportant aspect of Wasson's work lies in the expres.sedpossibility of an entheogenic plant ritual at the foundationof the world's earliest revealed religions, though opponentsseem a bit overzealous and indeed personal in their attackson this theory. Focusing on tbe movements of various cults

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across the ancient lands reveals a vast network of influ-ence from India to Greece with common themes emergingin support of Wasson's theories. Indo-^European nomadsbrought specific doctrines, such as the soma or liaoma, thatwere absorbed by and merged with local indigenous tradi-tions of shamanism and animism. The result was an oftentenuous syncretism, such as is found in the Rig Veda andAvesta, which became entwined in the local cosmologiesand practices until doctrinal evaluations formalized theseinto elitist legalism and obsession with elaborate ritual.

This period, after the Upanishads, coincides with therevision and assimilation of the various competing panthe-ons into an Aryan framework adjusting their status as thegodly Brahmans. The relatively simple rites of the hearththen became the boma or agnihotra ritual that spread allthrough Asia. According to Wasson, the soma cult seemsto have diminished with the migrations of the Aryans to-wards the Indus Valley. While this theory, and the "politicalreality" affecting such movements, may indeed be a chiefcause of the "cultural amnesia" as to what was the originalsoma plant, another alternative could be that the cult wentunderground to evade various suppressions and persecutionsat the hands of that old familiar state-caste based orthodoxy.It is clear that these fire rituals, entheogenic plants, andcomplex philosophies became firmly established in thecontext of metallurgy. The mastery of fire and the shamanhave long been poetically and mythically intertwined. Theobvious metaphors of the metallurgical refining process fromgross ore to useful metal would give all such endeavors aspiritual dimension. The pressures of agricultural or cattleherding-based authorities link metals with security, survivaland religion and would further contribute to the mystery of"smithing." As the technology became more widespread thespecific fire rituals evolved an intentional esoteric complex-ity to perhaps satiate the need for an esoteric doctrine inwhich to contextualize the entheogenic rites (Eliade 1962).The diffusion of fire rites, metallurgical/shamans/smiths andcremation rites that arise in the twilight of Copper/BronzeAge enshrine and link these associations with the purifica-tion of ores, potentially poisonous or dangerous medicines,and impurities in the deceased on the funeral pyre.

Some Indian scholars, in the course of the deep studyof their own traditions such as the Rig Veda, have suggestedthat the soma itself was the metal electrum, which is a goldand silver alloy. Alchemy of a metallic and plant nature isintimately linked with the various Vedic and Tantric spiritualsciences that spread amongst various cults (Kalyanaraman2004; Kazanas 2002; Jaggi 1973). A type oí soma was usedin the incessant fire mentioned in the Khila Sukta of theRig Veda, which Dr. Kalyanaraman links to a metallurgicalprocess that was of. as its inclusion in the Rig Veda attests,religious devotion. The theory of Wasson can be combinedwith this alchemical symbolism to give the ritual consid-erations many dimensions from which to draw. The actualsmelting and combining of metals and incessant fires has

obvious implications to a mystic. The clay, earthenware potof the Mahavira vessel filled with Putika plants and waterover a fire begins to take on alchemical metaphors of theelements. The fragrance of the fire—the way the gods enjoytheir sacrifice —wafts like incense in the perpetual prayerin the fire of the Soma sacrifice. The inner homa is an of-fering of all the impediments and obstacles to the peace ofenlightenment.

The Buddha himself is implicated (though this is con-tested) with both mushrooms and metal-smiths. As Wassonnotes, the Pali canon of Buddhist texts records the last mealof the Buddha as a mushroom served to him by the metal-worker Cunda. Wasson's deductions follow many yearsof academic debate as to whether the final substance waspork or a fungus as the Pali and other South Asian canonsmaintain. As to the noted objections that the mushroomaccount does not appear in the (to paraphrase Komfield'scomments) "mainstream" canonical literature this must beunderstood as a clear example of enforced orthodoxy. TheBuddhist convocations mirror the Christian-Roman hy-bridization under Constantine and the subsequent councilsto define doctrine. The suspected vegetarianism of Buddhawould suggest some deeper esoteric symbolism (Wasson etal. 1986). But the early Pali Canon (D,ii.7) links KassapaBuddha (the last of the Buddhas that proceed the historicalBuddha) with soma in various legends that involve quaff-ing a beverage the moment before enlightenment. Just likeShakyamuni. Kassapa takes a bit of milk/rice gruel beforehis enlightenment, which is served to Kassapa by his wifeand an attendant named Soma.

The so-called "silence" of the Buddha, a religious andsocial reformer, has always been linked with certain earlyBuddhist sects with an esoteric doctrine. This foundation ofesoteric Buddhism, allegedly entrusted to Kashyapa. thenseems to have taken a radically different course from theprevailing, basically "mirror-polishing" exoteric teaching.If this esoteric Buddhism was a purified Hinduism—onewithout class distinctions, animal-sacrifice and "distilledrituals"—then the esoteric doctrine begins to take shape.The acknowledged master of expounding this Buddhistsilence is the legendary Nagarjuna who is still famed inIndia today as an alchemist and wizard and personifies theerotico-mystical side of Tantric Buddhism, and whose writ-ings feature debates between Hindus and Buddhist, as wellas transmutational alchemy (White 1996).

Though his existence and authorship of certain texts areproblematic to some academics, the significance of the clearassociations connected with Nagarjuna betrays an esoterichermeneutics. The secrets of myth and folklore are in a sensemore "true" in their capturing of the prevailing spirits ofsympathy these traditions were connected with in constantlylinking Nagarjuna to occult arts. So popular legend concern-ing the wizard and alchemist adept of plants and herbs doesgive added dimension to his numerous writings on subjectsas broad as philosophy and Tantra. His allusions to the

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"amritd" or ambrosia or nectar, as it is translated, would thenfollow the deliberate semantic shift that the Buddha himselfestablished as a precedent in rejecting the caste system. Thissubtle shift from soma to amrita may also indicate a growingsense of sophistication in understanding what is still todayadvanced neurochemistry. Indian medical systems connectthe amrita. the "nectar of immortality" with the third eyeand pineal gland. As other scholars have already connectedthe amrita with the soma and Nagarjuna there is no needto repeat this (Crowley 2005). What is important is to notethe link of philosophical and ontological orientation backthrough esoteric Buddhism as reformed Hinduism that wasbased on the soma-agnihotra-homa ritual and metallurgy.

Nagarjuna, like Cunda who served Buddha's meal, wassaid to be an alchemist who knew the secrets of the amritaand thus of immortality. Yet a further link is the legendarybe-heading of Nagarjuna from a bow of Kusa Grass in thepopular folklore. As Kramrish demonstrates in the papersubtitled "The Secret ofthe Cut-Off Heads," this symbolismis intimately connected with the soma and Mahavira vessel,the descriptions of which match the pot or cup of elixir inNagarjuna's hand in popular iconography (Wasson et al.1986). With the numerous connections of esoteric teachings,symbolism, folklore and literal and symbolic allusions it ishard to ignore all ofthe evidence (Crowley 2005). There aremany of these legendary adepts that define these interrelatedinfluences of immortality plants, such as the Tantric SouthIndian Siddhar Bogar or Bhogar (third century CE), bomof goldsmiths, of whom it is said that he brought the siddhascience into China. He was said to have come from Chinaand joined the Saivite lineage ofthe Nathas, As Needham'sresearch shows, there would have already been a thrivingindigenous tradition ready to receive it. Indeed, Bogar insome accounts is said to have been Chinese himself, as somealso say of his guru Kalangi Nathan This lineage describesa system of healing and attaining power from "kaya kalpaherbs" (literally ''''kaya=hoày /:iï//ï«=immortar') in a poemthat mixes alchemical, botanical macrobiotics, and magictogether:

With great care and patience I made the (kaya kalpa) tabletand then swallowed it:Not waiting for fools and skeptics who would not appreciateits hidden meaning and importance.Steadily 1 lived in the land of the parangis (foreigners) Fortwelve thousand years, my fellow! 'I lived for a long time and fed on the vital ojasWith the oja.s vindhu I received the name, Bhogar:The body developed the golden color of ihe pill:Now I am living in a world of gold (Ramaiah 1979),

Given the social, political and religious climate of India,even well before the Buddha, it would seem there was "thesyndrome ofthe secret" (Urban 2005a, b, 2003). This atmo-sphere of secrecy in religious or occult practices is one ofthe very foundations of the power over lower castes. To haveknowledge of something, the name of a god or demon—to

have its "true" name—was to be able to control and bind itto one's will. Who can fathom the secrecy necessitated byinternal strife and extemal "cult" strife, diminishing sup-ply of the plant(s), regime changes, etc. while operatingon the cherished notion that the more discretion employedthe better? Written, and even oral, discourses were alreadysuspect by the time of Buddha as witnessed in his radicalrejection of all "'expert testimony" which indeed is the veryfoundation of all Hindu religion, and therefore, society.

Writers who focus on the more "occult" aspects of thesetraditions, such as some of the accusations made againstthose linking Buddhism and entheogens, neglect the radi-cal social implications that would topple the whole socialstructure of Hinduism/India should it be fully realized. Thisvery fact alone renders these mystics subversives first andforemost. The men who shunned society in ascetic autonomymerely reinforced and validated its existence by giving suchattention. Compound this with the "sharing the secret" of"ecstatic technology" with the masses, which may have beenthe undoing of Socrates, and no wonder Buddhism witheredin India. This hostility from society may have shaped agradually more militant resistance of warrior monks/initia-tory brotherhoods that may have been modeled on ancientmetallurgical guilds (Giradot 1983).

WHY DID BODHIDHARMA COME TO CHINA?

The ancient world's many mystery traditions and cultsnearly all betray some ecstatic technology, be it in the formof a potion, magic or ritual endeavor. The practice of self-enclosure, from Zaimoxis and Pythagoras to the Egyptiantomb ascetics in the cult ofthe dead, employs practices thatcould mimic DMT in the brain. The evidence can be foundthroughout China and India as well as in a strain of Indo-European religions from the already mentioned Zaimoxis tothe cave rites of Mithras (Ulansey 1991:Eliade 1970). Thecave revelations of the many prophets of Semitic extrac-tion also would seem to some to retain some aspect of this"chthonic shamanism." The lengths of time are astounding,ranging from three days such as in the case of Christ, tothree-year intervals with Zaimoxis. Others extend up to aquarter of a decade or more, and Tibetan oral lore from theLamas themselves record examples of whole Hfetitnes spentin such dark meditations, The practice seems to have been avery important element in Chinese mysticism as enclosingoneself in dark caves, gourds (a symbolic mystical retreat forChinese mystics), and grottos is a constant topic in variousliteratures (Robinet 1993; Giradot 1983) This common heri-tage seems to emerge with the metallurgical brotherhoods thatcame with various waves of Scythians and Thracians. No doubtcomfort and protection was sought in caves since prehistory,but the evolution to a mystic practice may stem from observinganimals that hibemate only to be rebom after a symbolic deathin winter (as many of the martial arts systems are said to havebeen derived fix)m the movements of animals).

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Suddenly the travels of the Bodhidharma might makemore sense. Perhaps in fleeing a hopeless and hostile po-litical situation he went to the land of the Taoists of China,who in their turn viewed teachings of the Buddha as stem-ming from a reincarnation of Lao-tzu who went to the landof the "barbarians" to teach the Way. It is possible that thelack of or restriction of soma or i orna-substitutes may haveprompted scores of esoteric Buddhists to wander to the landof the Immortals whose scriptures contained countless refer-ences to plants that matched the descriptions of their amrita.While Bodhidharma (Damo as he is known in China) mightseem the quintessential no nonsense monk, his lineage backto Nagarjuna cast him in a slightly more esoteric shadow.His seclusion in a cave, for seven years no less, would thenindicate some bold ego-death ritual to behold pure mind inthe incessant flow of pure cognition. The seven years couldindicate an actual increment or just an extended period{though it should be noted seven days in darkness will havea person experiencing DMT-like effects).

Once a distinction is granted between substances—asin education that elaborates the differences in effects of amushroom verses a "potion"—then the discussion can relaxenough to consider the correlative reactions in the brain. Thisis not to render the entire, for lack of a better word, "mysti-cal" situation to a chemical reductionism (Goodman 2002).The implications of drinking a hallucinogenic brew beingidentical in chemical experience and structure to "sober"Buddhist cave meditations opens the discussion as to the fullpossibilities kinetically present in the tryptamines/amrita ofthe pineal gland/third eye. While Bodhidharma remains se-cluded in his cave, the legendary associations as the founderof martial arts, especially the Pure Land Shaolin Buddhists,linger on.

THE THUNDER

One critically insurmountable paradox of understand-ing intentionally deceptive esotérica will cloud any inquiryinto these or any other admittedly esoteric schools. Thisinvestigative double-bind will taint every conclusion withthe real possibility that the groups in question did possessa very real and practical knowledge that would then beguarded and protected with the utmost religious fervor. Thecult's skillful dissimulation and semiotic abstractions wouldnearly render any inferences hopelessly lost in a stream ofblinds and bluffs even if not ftirther marred by intentionaland accidental mistranslations. It is literally amazing that somuch consistent imagery is still found littered and scatteredacross space and time despite attempts by various states andreligious institutions to obliterate them from the historicalrecord (as in the Taoist changing of their sacred mushroomfrom Amanita to the ling-chi, suggested by Wasson as dis-cussed below). The oral nature of the teachings gives theconsistency an almost miraculous ability to survive intact inforeign cultures. However, a form of spiritual sterilization

by institutions in power may lead to oblivion or worse: ap-propriation by the institution in claiming the "rebel-heretic"in death as their own.

By the time Buddhism arrived in China, Taoism andother loosely associated mystical schools of alchemy werealready embroiled in a struggle of cosmological proportions.An encroaching legalism and the institutionalization of Tao-ism cast all heterodox plants, persons and rituals as beingin sympathy with a chaos (Hun-Tun) that by its very naturewas against the orthodoxy (Robinet 1993: Giradot 1983).The synergy of Taoism and esoteric Buddhism/Hinduismmay have indeed shared a distinct cultural exchange fromancient times as witnessed in the confluence of practicesand theories (White 1996). The gradual revealing of thecore doctrines of esoteric Buddhism continued through theelucidations of the various Mahayana schools that gainedpopularity among the rural and the poor. The practices andteachings were not necessarily created outside the line ofDharma transmission, as the other schools insist, but wererather a refinement in the approach of dissemination. Asthe exoteric doctrines of all the faiths mostly centered onmorality and meditation, they differed little in the mundanecontexts of the diverse state traditions that, in tum. differvery little, from Vedic injunctions to the Confucian ethicsor Buddhist precepts.

The esoteric aspects of the Mahayana are sometimesrationalized as symbolic concessions to animist and "sav-age" indigenous cultures such as the Bon shamans of Tibet.While there is no doubt an assured blend and assimilationfrom "gods" to "bodhisattvas," the natures of the ritualsseem similar enough to suggest a collective merging oftechnologies rather than a hostile tactic of missionaries.The basically shamanic fire rites of the old homa wouldHnd a kindred spirit in native fire rituals that seemed tohave a special inclination for herbal supplements. "Tantra"has an etymological root meaning "to expand" and it is inthis context that Mahayana esoteric philosophy was takento its theoretical and practical conclusion. The resultinghyper-path is a thunderous distillation of rapid and suddenenlightenment known as the Vajrayana,

The Vajrayana or "thunderbolt" vehicle is the pureunadulterated essence of Mahayana Buddhism, which isto some extent a purified Hinduism (Crowley 2005). Therelationship and associations with mushrooms and thunderare nearly universal in scope, attesting to the relationshipwith precipitation and fungal appearance. Soma was alwaysassociated with Indra, as the Soma Pavanana of the Rig Vedaattests with verse 15: (Griffith 1896) "Over the cleansingsieve have flowed the Soma, blent with curdled milk. Effusedfor Indra Thunder-armed." As the research of Wasson andothers shows, the mushroom is always connected with thethunderous "suddenness" of both the storm and tbe subse-quent seemingly instantaneous appearance of the mushroom.This is a perfect metaphor for sudden enlightenment, evenif the mushrooms did not expedite the situation with instan-

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taneous stages of experience that "thunder" down the pathtowards '"enlightenment."

Wasson's (1986) research introduces the confusion ofalternative species and substitutions of "thunder plants"that link the .voma/thunder connections to the Chinese "di-vine mushroom of immortality" or ling chi. Wasson notesits alternative names is lei zhi or "thunder mushroom" aswell as recording later epithets of "thunder aroused mush-room, thunderbolt mushroom" etc. in his groundbreakingchapter in Persephone's Quest entitled "Lightningbolt andMushrooms. " This ling zhi would then transfer its immortalconnotations to the reishi mushroom of Japan. He records theIndian traditions of "thunder mushrooms" and certain putkamushrooms of the genus Phallus, which is clearly indicativeof the shape of the hood. Interestingly enough, the Tantricscience of Vajrayana would then conceal multiple mean-ings as thunderbolt and mushroom with the added sexualdimension of the word vajra, which can also mean a penis(Heinrich 2002).

The accrued similarities became more and more definedas Mahayana and Vajrayana permeated China. There was amixing and blending of esoteric discourses from the moun-tains of Mao Shan Temples to the yantra shaped monasteriesof Tibetan Lamas. Jin Dynasty era transmissions from Tibet,India and Mongolia managed to maintain key concepts suchas the retention of specific ritual formulas and symbolismto an astonishing degree of consistency, even or especiallyin the cases where some "adepts" did not know the mean-ing of the Sanskrit letters. Later during the Tang Dynastyesoteric Buddhism reached a peak of influence, with opendissemination of the esoteric Dharma conducted, in somecases, under the auspices of the court. The Chinese esotericBuddhism best known as the school of Sanlun also had amuch more informal following of wanderers and vagabondmystics who would probably purposely avoid both attentionand arbitrary designations let alone the dogmatic adherenceof a school. Esoteric Buddhism is thought to have fizzledaway like an unattended homa fire. While this may be thecase—that it just vanished due to lack of interest—it is morelikely and less often said that it may have just remained.

The adherents of the Prajnaparamita literature in Chinadistilled its fundamentals to understand the immediacy ofthe possibility of Buddhahood in one's lifetime. The Tibetanrejection of establishments (Rdzogs-chen) and the maverickyogis (Rnying-ma) had a particular attraction to the madhermits of Taoism and shamans who were influenced andinfluencing the stream of defecting Buddhists from Indiainto the churning ontological ocean of China. Various insti-tutional and governmental restrictions seem to have limitedthe degree to which the full scope of the esoteric teachingseould be safely revealed. Their influence in Tibet seems tologically have allowed them more public breadth in termsof open teaching, whereas in China the climate was not thatconducive to such doctrines. The demise of esoteric Bud-dhism in China can be seen as a nationalistic reaction to

the foreign influence of Buddhism, which was all the morepronounced in occult sects with the retention of the Hindupantheon and Sanskrit languages. The Chinese ruling fam-ily would then support Taoism, "related" as they were toLao Tzu, or even Hinayana Buddhism as more moderate intheory, practice and expectations. As scholars note, it wasthe melding of Confucian ethics with Buddhism during theTang Dynasty that was responsible for the more decisive"support." The Tang dynasties" influence faded with thesepositive sentiments, as witnessed in overall trends but ex-emplified in acts such as the anti-Buddhist persecutions ofthe year 845.

It is perhaps strange to posit a radical, even militant.Buddhism but the history of martial arts indeed stems, inlegend, from Bodhidharma. The refinements in the PureLand temples of Shaolin, which contained esoteric prac-tices (Chinese: Mi Tsung, Japanese: Miyyko) and exotericmartial arts, further link fighting techniques with militantautonomy in popular Chinese lore. Bodhidharma's allegedmovements formed the basis for a martial art tradition thatappears in various forms all over Asia. One must considerthe Indian tradition of Vajramushti which is a brutal handto hand art practiced by the warrior class, the Kshatriya, towhich Bodhidharma belonged as providing a context forhis teachings. Tibetan warrior monks retain traditions ofShakyamuni Buddha, a kshatriya or Warrior-Caste Hindu,trained in The Five Arts of the Warrior Kshatriyas in a stylepracticed today called Simhavikridatta (Lion's Skill) of theVajramushti Diamond-Thunderbolt Fist Martial Art (Gold-stein 1964). Likewise, in Tamil there is the Kalarippayattustyle of martial arts, which though perhaps of a later date,certainly had more ancient precedents in the area. Thissemi-wildman/sage with supreme martial arts and esotericknowledge is a very common theme that links much of thislore together, such the Tibetan Guru Padma.sambhava—TheLotus Bom, "The Lion Roaring Guru"—who introducedTantric Buddhism into Tibet circa 750 CE. These mastersseem to be the model for the holders of the Japanese soma,the Yamabushi, who are associated with the Shugendo,which are a sect of the Shingon linked to the enigmaticEn-no-Gyoja of the seventh century CE, who practiced aningenious and secretive synthesis of Shinto, Zen and TantricBuddhism. They are known as the lengu or crowman andlater become associated with the shinohi or ninja.

The physical defenses and combinations of mudra andritual techniques would then seem to date back to Vedic Indiawith the system known as Simhanada Vajramushti. Certainlya noble tradition of Buddhist warrior-monks (Läab Ldob\with a complicated martial arts, exist in this very precise sys-tem of Tantric Buddhism. They employ a similar cosmology,pantheon, ritual, liturgical language (in many cases) as wellas a long history of heated and violent internal conflicts fromremote castles. As modem scholars have demonstrated, thereis a strong possibility that Amanita mushrooms were usedin the alchemical process in the Buddhist Tantric traditions

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of Tibet vvbicb may then be in line witb the soma of Indiain a reformed Buddhist context {Kaiyanaraman 2004; Haji-cek-Dobberstein 1995). A startling bit of information is theconnection of the Tibetan martial system of "wild wisdom"witb the mythological Yeti of tbe Himalayas. It will proveextraordinarily relevant tbat there should be a martially adept"wild-demon creature" associated with Tantric Buddhistwarrior-monks, Amanita mushroom alchemy, and the furiousdefense of their autonomy. I suggest that the Yeti, connectedin tbe Tibetan martial arts witb a certain "style," were thesevery same Buddhist monks, wild like their Indian founderPadmasambbava, in the skins of wild animals roaming theirterritories like agitated demons. This Indo-Tibetan-Cbinesemartial art tben finds an esoteric counterpart in the so-calledBodbisattva warriors of certain sects. Contrary to tbe unifiedpicture of most publications on Tibetan Buddhism, there isa very violent bistory between the different sects who baveskirmisbed and fougbt for power since tbeir inceptions undertbe (translated) designations that are variously: the yellow,tbe red and the black "hats." Yet all these groups retain andshare these very distinct ritual systems.

At this point, I would pause to present yet a furtherdimension of the Amanita muscaria mushroom, which waspresented in a PBS documentary that hypothesized the useof the fungi in tbe "Day of the Zulu" (Knight 2002). Tbevictory of the Zulu against such odds has prompted scholarslike Knight and botanist Ben-Erik van Wyk of Rand Afri-kaans University in Johannesburg, South Africa to suggestpsychoactive species at play in stimulating tbe warriorsto battle. "Warriors who consumed those musbrooms, re-searchers speculate, might have been utterly without fear,believing tbemselves impervious to British bullets" (Knigbt2002). Tbe documentary followed the presentation of thistheory with two martial artists previously equally matchedin combat who were tben each given a substance: one aplacebo, one tbe preparation of the mushroom. The placebomartial artists stuck to his trained form while his opponent,under the influence of tbe mushroom, erupted with a fe-rocity tbat easily defeated his opponent. The results werestartling in showing the martial applications of tbe fungus,wbicb now is not only ritual entheogen and medicine butalso a potentially deadly weapon in a fighter's arsenal.Spess (2000) notes. "Indra, tbe man god who drinks soma,becomes stimulated for battle after drinking soma" (see RigVeda 9.44.3;9:97.37;5.44.13) and it is possible tbat Ama«/mbased lycanthropy is tbe instigation for wolfmen in fairytalesas well as of the marauding Beserkers. Ruck's recent book(2007) revisits mushroom lore and the Beserkers as well asother associations of iycanthropic mushroom use.

The Tantric ritual implements include tbe symbolicvajra ortbunderbolt (Tibetan: dorje) and bell with the dag-ger familiar in most magical ceremonies the world over.The cup or kalapa from the Sanskrit is always best if fromthe upper cranial area, nearest the pineal gland, of a humanskull. That same militant Tibetan Padmasambbava is conimonly

depicted holding such a bowl filled with tbe nectar of im-mortality in Tibetan art. Tbe otber curved "chopper" styleknife is suggested by tnost as a symbolic weapon thatdefends the Dharma and severs the bonds of attachment.This is certainly correct on one level, but given the knownhomafsoma influences and tbe sudden organization intonear military fraternities this might indicate a deeper ritualmeaning. The curved dagger might then be a stylized pestleto the mortar of the skull in a more Tantric updating of thesoma/haoma (literally "to pound" as in extracting the juiceof tbe rehydrated mushroom) of the shared Indo-Europeanheritage. If the Tibetans were indeed using Amanita then theywould have possibly managed to retain the essence of tbehoma/soma (homa is agnihotra, a fire ritual, and not to be-come confused with the haoma entheogen of the Mazdeansand Zoroastrians though they are related) with the fire rite.The Tibetan offering of the Zho-zan or shozen. which is asweet dairy mixture, may function as the ritual offering ofthe soma, which after pounding would have been imbibed,perbaps, in such a liquid (Tulku & Perott 1987).

The eighth century CE was an important one for TantricVajrayana. Like a sudden storm it rained forth an eruptionof translations and doctrines, usually associated with somesemilegendary wild-man, upon all of Asia. The similaritiesand consistencies of these documents in Tibet. China and Ja-pan attest to the supreme organizational skills, disseminationtechniques, and kinetic energy of the Tantric message. Tbecomplete sophistication of such an exact esoteric doctrinespeaks to tbe level of refinement of tbe exoteric Mabayanawith its diamond in the rough counterpart of Vajrayana. Tbeability of the Tantra to mesh with indigenous shamanismmay bave been equal parts tactic and conscious willingnessfor technological appropriation and assimilation. As writerssuch as Ott (1996) and others maintain, the shamans weresimply the psychopharmacologists of tbe ancient tribalworlds. Tbe Tantrikas tben showed extreme discretion andintelligence towards tbe local gods and customs as repre-sentative of the prevailing animist landscape. As the plantswere thought of as gods themselves, the foods or abodes oftbe gods or their offerings, the plants would then partake oftheocentric relationships to the particular area's divinities.Tbis would include Taoisl personas in the Chinese materialas well as Bon and Shinto in tbe Tibetan and Japan traditionsrespectively.

Wbatever the specific routes of transmission, tbe fullexpression of Tantra in the encountered society would de-pend on the state sentiment. The vast, chaotic and competinglandscape of Cbina bad three main versions of religions inTaoism, Confucian and Buddhism, too many to even permit,despite the brief period with the Tang, any real floweringof esoteric Buddhism. The nearly parallel unfolding ofesoteric Buddhism with the possible fusion of martial artsand entheogens in Japan and Tibet, again, suggests the co-herent nature of the transmission that maintained a core setof distinct features. The mentioned ritual connections are

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as present in Japan as they are in Tibet, with both begin-ning to display some new. yet similar, characteristics. Theessentially anarchist nature of Buddhism, as in Buddha'srejection of his dharma (duty) to his caste and family asrulers for the Buddha-Dharma. would have natural impli-cations for what amounts to its political stance. Its variousguises, exoteric and esoteric, still often retain a disdain forthis worid of mundane concerns. This anarchist sentimentcan suddenly turn Utopian, nearly reminiscent of Plato'sRepublic and the philosopher-king, with what amounts to agolden "Buddhacratic" society. It was either the smiles ofthe "lord of the world," or clever missionary activity thatsuddenly transformed both Tibet and Japan (however briefiy)into state-sanctioned esoteric Buddhist centers. The JapaneseKukai 's triumphant return led him to a complete autonomy,secure in a mountain stronghold, in no more than two yearstime. The subsequent campaigns and military struggles aretoo well known to need treatment. Suffice to say that theviolence may very well indicate the conclusions of ritualsof empowerment in a cultural and political vacuum likeJapan during this most bloody time. The Japanese Shingonsect (literally "true word" from the Sanskrit Mantrayaria)arrived on the island via the aristocratic Kukai. His wellknown story has him besting all the Chinese natives in hisunderstanding of the esoteric practices in the Tang capitalof Chang-an.

His Chinese master, Hui-kuo, initiated him into thehighest levels of the cult, even passing his mantle of author-ity shortly before his death. This secret teaching (JapaneseMikkyo) then comes from India through China (Hakeda1972), The mentioned entheogenic connections with India,and subsequently in Tibet, will also find relation to the al-ready touched upon "thunder" connections noted in Chinaby Wasson. The works of Taoist scholars as Giradot. Robi-net, Saso and especially the encyclopedic work of JosephNeedham, as stated, reveal literally hundreds of episodesand anecdotes related to magic plants more often than notidentified as mushrooms. The Tantrikas pouring in fromvarious directions could not have failed to notice the nearlyexact relation of the terminology of their native traditionswith that of native cultures. It is folly to think these esotericBuddhists would have divorced themselves from their en-theogenic heritage.

These consistencies in China are better documented dueto the sophisticated record keeping of many of the traditionsand schools treated. Ancient pharmacopeias (Chinese peti-tsao) and Asiatic shamanic heritages literally guarantee afertile substrate for mycological alchemy to fruit. As Dr.Li (1978) writes of ancient Chinese ethnobotany "Plantswith hallucinogenic effects were recorded in the earliestherbáis nearly two thousand years ago." There was also theappearance of certainly enlheogenic Manichaeans (ChineseMing-chiao or Religion of Light) which had spread to Chinaat an early date, eventually getting banned as a secret societyin 732 AD (Ruck, Staples & Heinrich 2001). They were.

like the Buddhists, vegetarian and held strange occult ritualsall night in "vegetarian ha\h"{cbai~tang) where they werereported to "dabble in magic and unseemly rites and had thereputations for extraordinary shamans . . ."; as to the ban:"hut it continued underground, often resurfacing with quasi-legal acceptance"(Ruck, Staples & Heinrich 2001 ). Like theTantrics. they were using entheogenic and sexual technologyfrom a common Indo-European heritage of secret societiesand what nearly amounted to fraternal military organiza-tions. They were "repeatedly associated with fomentingrevolutionary unrest" and were called "vegetarian demonworshipers" (ch 'ih-ts 'ai shihtno) an allegation that could beand was leveled at the Tantrikas as well (Ruck, Staples &Heinrich 2001). They were associated with "drug inducedecstacy," as the prophet Mani himself was often associatedwith fungus. Wasson (1986) notes that the ling chi was "asmall plant, not woody" that had become scarce, much to thedismay of the necromancers. Wasson suggests, with somepersuasion, that there was a conscious religious furor to re-place the popular designation in art. poetry and iconographyof the "not woody" zhi, the soft mushroom {A. Muscaria)known to the Taoists through the shamanic Nivkhi. with thevery "woody" ling chi (Ganoderma lucida) in a brilliant ployto secure the supply for the elite. This would seem the fateof the mushroom from India to Japan as the Shingon tradi-tion made specific "connected" progress and was allowed toflourish under the sponsorship of a powerful aristocracy.

No one would suggest that these highly secretive cultswould out and out reveal the basis of their power. Wasson(1986) takes the above example all the way to the Taoistveneration of the mushroom in what he calls a "remarkableand successful 'public relations ploy"" to secure their sup-ply. Even in a safe climate the esoteric nature of the highesttruths would be heavily guarded and protected. The citywhere Kukai landed, Chang-an, was a veritable culturalcenter of Asia. It was know to have contained, in additionto the many Buddhist and Taoist temples, at least three ormore known foreign temples, definitely including those ofManichaeans. Zoroastrians and Nestorian Christians. Thishot-bed of cultural and religious transmission then has arather potent entheogenic foundation in the various cults,all of which display marked "ecstatic technologies'" at theircore doctrines. Kukai's critical catechism of esoteric Bud-dhism even phrases the exoteric oversights of other Buddhistsects in terms of a magical herb "on the roadside that passedunnoticed." He even makes a subtle allusion to plants andalchemical metallurgy, combining the metaphors as missedgems/plants in the ore or road in his various commentarieson the Lotus Sutra, His works on the arguments of the Tao-ists suggest his rather deep knowledge of their doctrines,especially the ones concerned with magic herbs, fiyingelixirs and fungus (Abe 1999).

The theoretical dualism of Taoism and Manichaeaismwould not satisfy the fervently "unified vision" of Kukai. Butsome doctrines, such as the light of Mani and the Great Sun

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or Mahavairocana (Japanese dainichi) would no doubt finda common solar accordance in the concept of the Sun Bud-dha. This in turn would find a common theme in the ShintoSun Goddess Amaterasu who would eventually become theavatar of Dainichi Nyorai (Thathagata) or the Ryobu Shinto,even further illustrating the cross-influences and the ease ofwhich the symbolism is transferred and re-expressed (Abe1999). It is no doubt this solar devotion, especially linkedwith dawn and sunset agnihotralhomalgoma fire rituals,that binds the.se cults across the broader Asiatic and Indo-European expanse.

Kukai, fresh off his discussion ofthe elixirs and fungi ofthe Taoists, then proceeds to relate an extended parable to il-lustrate the "Argument of Kamei-Kotsuji" (Buddhist) which,as scholars note, is apparently largely autobiographical of hisown wanderings as an "unordained monk" (Abishido). Theconversation with the Buddhist explains the attainment ofthegolden and silver pavilions in the Buddhist tradition usingthe term for the "deathlessness" achieved with the consistentoffering of the "ambrosial nectars" linking them again withthis Tantric tradition. Even one ofthe most central mantrasto Shingon. "Om amrita teje hará hum" (emphasis added) isbasically an invocation to the revised soma/b!iss discussedfrom the Vedic times through Nagarjuna and now into theJapanese sects. The various Tantric rites of empowerment{kaji) and sacrifice together illustrate the core doctrines toinvoke the gods by means of ritual entheogens.

Japan's warrior monks (sohei), the Yamabushi (thosewho lay down in mountains), like their Tantric Tibetancounterparts, are associated with esoteric Buddhism. Likethe Tibetans who are associated with the yeti, the Yamabushiare clearly linked with the tengu "goblins" of Japan. Themysterious synthesis of Taoism, Buddhism and Shinto oftheShugendo reveals the synthetic nature ofthe various occultgroups of Japan. The relationship between the mountainascetic Yamabushi. the tengu and these sects of esotericBuddhism are well attested to in the wealth of legends inpopular Japanese folklore dating from at least the seventhcentury CE. The relationship may well be found in thebird-like masks and feathered fans (hauchiwa) used by theYamabushi that might, with their wild antics, have giventhem a demonic if not terrifying appearance. Explanationsfor these accounts, like the those dealing with the yeti, wouldthen indicate a conscious defense technique of the monks toscare away unwanted intrusions into their Tantric utopia. Itis rather a striking find to have two Tantric Buddhist sectshave such a marked commonality in these goblin-warriormonks with inner-alchemical mystic teachings and fire ritu-als. Their "wild man" antics and military prowess recall theabove descriptions of Bodhidhamia and Padmasambhava,with the Yamabushi retiring in a similar manner to caves forlong cave meditations. The religious influences exerted onJapan include indigenous shamanism, influxes of mysticaltraditions via China and Korea of Buddhism and the Tao,both in the form of Shinto or with the hermit Senin who were

like the magician/Taoists of China (fang-shi) in their fabledpowers. These cave dwellers generated their power (Ki) byconsorting with the spirits of the forest (kama). Wasson(1986), in Persephone's Quest, has a subchapter entitledThe Chinese and the Nivkhi, describing a shamanic tribesaid to be an "important cultural contact" with the Taoistsand of course, using Amanita muscaria as their entheogenof choice, at least until recently under the influx of modemculture.

This seclusion, in Japanese called komori. resonateswith the sentiments expressed by the Japanese authority Ori-guchi Shinobu. He writes "Sacred power is often manifestedin Japan... in a sealed vessel. In the darkness of this vessel itgestates and grows, until eventually it bursts its covering andemerges into the world" (Blacker 1986). Similarities to thislanguage are found the worid over but with a special distinctflavor as found in the traditions of China (as discussed inthe works of Giradot and Robinet). The former's work onearly Taoism elaborates the extensive language of enclosingof a master in gourds for long periods, as does the works ofNeedham and Eliade. In Japan this supernatural principleis known as utsubo. This association is used to designatecertain gourds and fruits as utsubo vessels. Blacker ( 1986)writes;

Likewise the ascetic who wishes to acquire sacred power un-dergoes a gestation in the nearest he can find to an utsubo ves-sel, a cave or darkened room. In this womb-like stillness heutidergoes his fasts and recites his words of power, emergingonly to stand under a waterfall.

This descent into the womb-world mándala or Taizokai isa supreme initiation into the highest mysteries of Tantra inShingon. It may even be that Yamabushi or kami^aktishiactually would kidnap unsuspecting youth and take them totheir lairs for possible induction into the sects. As Blackerrecords, this is particularly a masculine phenomenon whichhold the consistent elements: "magical flight to strange plac-es, the weird sights the boy witnesses, elixir, herb or jewelthat are occasionally bestowed upon him . . ." which lendsa certain entheogenic charm to the legends. The links of theYamabushi. the tengu and Shingon orTendai esoteric Bud-dhism are well known in schohirly and religious literature.The subtle hints ofthe tengu as guardians of huge trees mightprompt speculation as to their exact relationship with allthese groups that seamlessly incorporated ancient Shinto loreinto their ever expanding literal and metaphysical arsenal.Considering the overall associations of Tantric Buddhismand Hindu Soma to the Amanita muscaria mushroom then itis all the more telling that one of the principle chemicals inthe mushroom is ibotenic acid that takes its name from thesesame Tengu. In fact, the entheogenic Amanita mushroomsare actually known under a variety of names in Japan, themost common of which might be "beni-tenguiake" literally"scarlet Tengu mushroom (Ott 1996). The tengu. describedas licentious, are always associated with mushrooms and

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are said to get "drunk from eating mushrooms" (Strickmann2002;Imazeki 1973).

The Tengu as guardians of the forest suddenly have amuch more concise entheogenic context. Their avowed linkwith the Shingon sect of Kukai and the Yamabushi strainsof this specific Thunder Tantra further establish concreterelationships with the scholarship of mushrooms and soma.I suggest that the esoteric Buddhists of Japan practicedthe switching of the identity of the their precious Amonitamuscaria in the manner of the Taoists to protect its identity,though instead of switching to ling-chi (Japanese Relshi) thespecies was Hericium erinaceus or, as its still called in Japan,the Yamabushitake. a gourmet and medicinal mushroommuch sought after.

The fire rituals of the homa. called the saito-goma bythe Yamabushi, retain similar symbolism. The texts of theJapanese Goma ceremony, such as translated by Saso. retainsthe same language for the soma oil in the fire offering, il-lustrating that even in the exoteric rituals the soma is at leastsymbolically present (Snodgrass 1997). The examples inthese difterent, yet spiritually linked, cultures shed light ona dynamic mystical system that to various degrees came tobe expressed with the mentioned symbolism. These includethe metallurgical, often martial, fire-tenders who operatedunder a paradigm that was saturated with mushroom, herb,or plant elixirs of bliss, immortality or both. The warrior-monks of both Tibet and Japan become clearly linked withmushrooms and ascetic mountain practices as well as cryp-tozoological creatures that are associated with wild mysticsin popular legend. The lengu, again associated particularlywith the Shingon sect of Kukai and the related Yamabushi.lend their name to the mushroom which they are said to eatin a forest clearing in "convivial parties" to get drunk andcarouse (Imazeki 1973).

HOLY MYCOPHILIAAND SACRED METALLURGY

TeetotalersMusi be afraid of ilThe tengudakeIt would be nice to makeThe straw-bossEat the big laughing mushroom (Ott 1996)

Alchemy, with its symbolic language of fusing andtransmuting, is the perfect system to encode these specificesoteric teachings, which seem to emerge everywhere thereis an alchemical tradition. When diffused through Indo-European sources, partial as they were for metal weapons,sun. fire rituals and psychotropic substances, there are clearsacred associations that are to unite in the "cosmic man/Bud-dha/Imam/Microcosm" depending on the group, sect or cult.Indeed, the Sufis use the same language of alchemy and "theWay" which some have conjectured was passed via a Sufiphilosopher al-Simnani who founded the whadat al-shuhudor Unity of Vision school (Needbam 1983). The constant

symbolism, first connected to fungal cults by Wasson, of"one-eyed/one-legged" creatures and metallurgy seems tobe a very specific ancient tradition, with the one leg aspectclearly representing the mushroom stem. Indian alchemicalmateria medica, or rasayana, lists Amanita muscaria as SomRas, as used in medicinal and rejuvenative therapies; it isfound as well in Tibetan medical texts that also clearly dealwith both a physical and spiritual alchemy (Puri 2003,)

Ruck's research in particular connects this ancient fun-gal/metallurgical cult with such people as the "Telchines.magic metallurgists with a reputation for sorcery and drugs"who partake of a very specific ancient and widespread tradi-tion that reached from Ireland to the furthest points of Asia.The descriptions always remain strikingly consistent, as wewill see with the following:

The one-eyed Arimaspeans. who . . . were either jusi anothername for the Hyperboreans or, as a separate people, were thefirst intermediaries in the transmission of the subten-aneangold that was mined by the griffins, are a personification ofone of the attributes of Soma as the "single eye." These one-eyed creatures are a variant of another attribute of Soma asthe figure with a single foot, a characteristic of a supposedrace of people called the Shade-foots . . . just as his Titanicbrother in the east, Prometheus, when presented as a Shade-foot, impersonates the sacred plant as a "parasol," . . . whichis the Sanskrit word for "mushroom." (Ruck in Wasson el ai.1986; see also Figure 1).

Perhaps, as Wasson suggested, the world is composed ofcultures that embrace the spored kingdom of fungi whileothers loathe and fear it. In any case, the Japanese culturehas a long history of decidedly mycophilic reverence formushrooms, some of which are the most medicinal In theworld. Their folklore and vast, descriptive nomenclatureexhibit a familiarity extending from the culinary delights ofthe kitchen to their apparent use as entheogens in templesand mountains. Incidentally, Wasson confessed he neverapproached entheogenic heights with Amanita tnuscaria,especially compared to the psilocybin mushrooms he ex-perimented with in Mexico. There is a story that a memberof one of his parties, a Japanese fellow, became "drunk"from the Amaniia. which might have indicated to Wasson agenetic predisposition to that sensation.

The drinking of urine, an ancient medical therapyknown in India as .shivamhu, was of interest to many ofthese mystical groups and a key component in Wasson'sAmanita deductions concerning the Vedic hymns whichrecount drinking urine, a practice also used in recycling the"drug" among Siberian and American shamans. Crowley(2005) has also focused on the drinking of urine as indica-tive of the survival of these cults. Needham describes ingreat detail Chinese fascination with urine in medical andalchemical rites, in the forming of a complex "proto-en-docrinology" and the associations of "urine with sexualactivity" and longevity techniques; he also noted that "urinetherapy" as demonstrated by Krebs is a continuous tradition

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FIGURE 1Scan from the Matrix and Diamond World Mándala Showing a Parasol Mushroom

The tnost ancient and common metaphor in Sanskrit (for mushrooms) is "umbrella," or "parasol" (chattra(ka), chattrika; Morgenstieme1957). The small size of this parasol in the context of Buddhist scriptures speaking of amrita and invoking gods is suggestive.

in Westem culture. Of interest in his exposition of theseintricate matters is mention of a Japanese scroll from thethirteenth century entitled Mabutsu khinyo Ekotoha whichillustrates the famous Buddhist priest Ippen, founder of theJishu sect, using nuns to distribute his urine from a bambootube to "kneeling believers with that assurance that It wouldcure gastro-intestinal ailments and blindness." Needham(1983) retreats to footnotes to voice his hunches on thisscroll and "cannot refrain from recalling here, in a kind ofarriere-pensee, the fact mentioned in Vol.5 . .. that certainpsychotropic substances pass out in the urine unchanged.But probably in this case the intent was purely medicinal."In light of the present research, one wonders if he wouldbe swayed to embrace his suspicions on what is occurringin the scroll, a Japanese ritual taking of urine that echoespart of the key evidence on Wasson's identification of thesoma.

Japanese designations for entheogenic mushroomsrange from the Amanita related beni-tengu-take or ibo-tengu-take to the o-warai-take, or warai-take, which is the"big laughing mushroom" mentioned in the poem beginningthis section. The rich, ancient Japanese folklore and variednomenclature for psychoactive mushrooms indicates a veryancient, familiar popular and religions association withentheogenic fungi. Wasson and Sanford both bring to lightthe curious episode of Buddhist nuns and woodcutters whomeet in the forest as the nuns, tellingly reminiscent of thevarious ascetics of those lofty regions, descend from a remotemountain pass. The name for the maitake or dancing mushroom

as the chemically inactive but culinary and medieal favoritemay well indicate a possible misnomer as to speeies in thepopular retelling. Ott, in discussing the context of the ac-count, relates that several contemporary Chinese sourcesrelated to the collection of tales, the Konjaku Monogatari,describe a Hsiao-ch'un or "laughing mushroom." He de-scribes this as "doubtless the Japanese psilocybin species"which he identifies as the same species as the "food of thegods" or teonanacatl of Mexico or hallucinogenic Panaeoluscampamdatus. Another entheogenic species is the shibite-take or "benumbing mushiDom" which is Psilocybe venenata (Ott1996) and is another candidate for folk-religious use in Japan.

The woodcutters, as the story goes, are scared andhungry in the wild, goblin infested mountain terrain whenthey decide to eat mushrooms, at which point they danceand sing around in intoxicated bliss (Sanford 1972). TheBuddhists nuns, like the tengu and Yamabushi are firstthought to be demons or goblins {tengu) by the frightenedwoodcutters in a scene that seems to blend a variety oftraditions into one central myth that was later adopted intoan official version of stories. The old cult of female Shintoshamans, the miko, seem to have been blended with Bud-dhist and ethnomycological lore to form this popular storythat then might be seen to have a deeper meaning, perhapsreflecting a strange relationship with the lay community ofwoodcutters and craftsmen that support the shamans andtemples. Shinto colors are red and white, like the Amanitamushroom, and the architecture and even hats of that periodquite often were mushroom shaped.

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The Japanese word for mushroom, take, has a colloquialassociation with bamboo, that starts witb "to grow" to "growhigh", "to attain full growth", "to become furious", "to roar","to excel" etc. Take as a designation of mushroom in popularJapan is usually used in combinations such as tengu-take.matsu-take, or mai-take, wbich mean goblin-mushroom,pine-mushroom or laughing mushroom, respectively. TheAmanita seems to retain some of its "fly agaric" connota-tions from its near universal use as a fly-catcher, with thenames hailori(-goke), haitori-take given to it due to its flystunning chemicals (Imazeki 1973).

Wasson was the first to link tbe "one-footed" and"one-eyed" beings that baunt and inhabit folklore frommany sources from the Cyclops to the soma itself (wbicbin Sanskrit is Aja Ekapad, literally "not-born single-foot")to the mushroom. Tbe mushroom is "not-born" in its sud-den and mature appearance, associated with the thunder orVajra, and is "one-footed" witb its singular base or foot. Theassociations with metallurgy and "one-eyed" creatures isfamiliar from the Cyclops that forged, of all things, "lighten-ing-bolts" for Zeus in his war with the Titans. They retainthis metallurgical connection as then becoming tbe aids tothe metal-smith of the god Hephaestus. Interestingly theseCyclops were three in number and named Brontes (tbunder),Steropes (lightening), and Arges (light), all of which areassociated with mushroom lore. Tbis clear Indo-Europeantradition has precedents starting with the one-eyed Odinwhich probably spread from Asiatic and Oriental sourcesrelated to tbe "all-seeing eye" that was brought by Thracianblacksmiths who had a "sun" painted over tbeir third-eyespot on the forehead.

The relationship of mystical metallurgy/entheogenswith tbe bellows and flames of tbe blacksmiths would findexpression in tbeir reverence for fire, and fire rites are associ-ated with the soma rituals. The added dimension of refiningand/or transmuting ore to workable and useable metal wouldhave obvious spiritual associations witb alchemy. The as-sociations of smiths would have further connections in theweapons (practical and ritual), magical tools, mándalas,yantra, statues, etc. they produced and tbe copper fire pitswbicb are mostly used in the various homa rituals.

Wasson and Ruck (1986) catalyzed tbe search forthese specific associations which seem to have spread viathe tenacious nomadic wanderings of proto-Indo and Indo-European races that tben extended tbrougb India, Tibet andCbina. The connection witb metallurgy and berbal magic isknown from the dangerous Telechines to tbe one-eyed Ari-maspeans (which is, as Ruck notes, just another designationfor those bemushroomed travelers "of beyond tbe northernwinds," tbe Hyperboreans). This technologically advancedculture seems, based on recent archeological finds, to havepenetrated from Asia to Ireland, perhaps bringing with ita mushroom cult rendered all the more occult in its use of"alchemical metaphors" for working with fire and ore (Mal-lory & Mair 2000). Herodotus records the tale of a Scythian

tribe that followed a fantastic trade route that concluded witha strange group of metal-smiths. These are the Arimaspi,literally one-eyed, who are said to. interestingly, steal goldfrom "griffins" and are associated with wild "goat-footed"Hyperboreans who march to the sea. Soiar-birds of mythicaland sometimes terrible descriptions seemed to bave somedeep beritage in Persia. The Pahlavi text of the Bundabis,which is based on arcbaic sources, mentions solar birds ofcreation as do Chinese sources with tbe Luan, which havequite similar descriptions. Giradot (1983) links this bird withthe him-tim chaos of primordial creation also discussed byNeedbam and Granet as partaking in tbe theme of "legendaryrebels" who are always linked witb "arcbaic religio-culturaltraditions of metallurgy and totemic shamanism."

Tbe logical designation of the sun as a solar bird thatflies to light the sky coincides with the agtiiihorra lighting ofthe homa pit at sunrise and sunset. The Luan bird of Chinafunctions as a symbol for life and passing in a variety ofrather complex associations and symbols tbat Girardot notesare ratber strange. He concludes that the Luan bird is a met-allugieal "solar symbol for death" whicb blends tbe mysticalbirths and rebirths with a certain metaphorical potency. Healso notes tbat wild bird-men, possibly bringing this spe-cific mushroom cult lore and metallurgical technology, asforeigners were derided as "barbarian" and "not Cbinese."He further notes it is these foreigners, possibly these samementioned mycophilic smiths, brought with them the solaregg myth of tbeir ancestors. Giradot (1983) writes:

There are many traces of the Thunder-egg type of mythologyhere that directly suggest the deluge and cosmic egg cyclesof mythology linked wilh hun-tun theme in Taoism. Further-more. Kaltenmark has shown the influence of these factors ofthese in the dcvelopmenl of the Taoist ideas of ihe featheredimmortal (hsien) and the metallurgical techniques of transfor-mation practiced by the fang-shih magicians of Chi'i.

The Japanese bird-like mystics and feathered goblins as-sociated with tbe Tantric Yamabushi and mushroom Tengumust be compared to mushroom and phoenix correspon-dences that abound in alchemical traditions (Heinrieb 2002).Needham ( 1974) connects the very concept of the immortal,hsien^ to bird-shaman, and tbe pictograph of hsien is of aman's body with wings who flies to a country of deathless,feathered people. The legends of supematural birds andone-eyed monsters in Japan may find their filtered sourcein southern and central Cbina witb the foot-bellows of thelegendary one-legged ghost bird. The "one-eyed one-legged"connections between these mushrooms and metallurgy mayhave some ones with the mentioned considerations of thefungi as well as with tbe logical deductions of an eyepatch(one-eye) at the forge witb "one-foot" on the bellows, astbe bellows were pumped witb by pressing one foot. Need-ham notes that cleariy these techniques of metallurgy andmysticalherbology—especially elixir alchemy—traveled toJapan, but the lack of Japanese alchemical gold traditions

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proper he explains as stemming from the situation thatJapan was not as interested in the idea of transmuting gold,as their own supply of real gold was sufficient (Needham1976). Needham states the Japanese enthusiastically em-braced "chemo-therapeutic" elements of Chinese alchemyand spagyrical arts, with the attendant legends of immortalsdeep in the mountains, fiying through the air. and abstainingfrom cereal foods. Needham mentions the Yamabushi inthis continuing connection of Taoist adepts and mountainmonks who he remarks were ascetic and yet had an "almostTantric valuation of sex which made it right for yamabushi tomarry (often shamanesses) and to be Shinto priests as well."Needham recounts many instances of exchanged traditionsof "potable gold" and prescriptions for things like numinousmushrooms and sweet flag, with Chinese adepts showingup at Japanese courts paying tribute with Taoists medicinesof immortality (Pai shu).

Mystical and martial wild men haunting the forestsin perpetual meditation preserve fire rituals and plantdesignations across an astounding span of time and space.The retention of languages, symbolism, techniques andtechnology proves the infectious and powerful nature ofthe teachings that ingeniously adopted and transformed lo-cal shamanism with a deliberate and sophisticated method.The Japanese Ainu and Shinto exhibit markedly shamanicheritages, the latter's colors are the familiar red and white ofAmanita and soma, that clearly merged seamlessly with themost esoteric aspects of Tantric Buddhism when it arrivedin Japan. It was this synthesis of various traditions that pro-duced the finest example of the powerful and even dangerousBuddhist-shaman-warriors known as the Yamabushi andTengu who continue to this day to guard the Dharma withthe noble Bodhisattva warriors.

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONSIN THE FIELD OF ETHNOMYCOLOGY

The debate as to the identity of the sacred Soma willlikely continue unabated as each theory satisfies a certaincriterion, often elegantly, only to fail to answer for someother descriptions in the various scriptures. Like alchemy,or the Philosopher's Stone itself, no single or simple reduc-tion presents itself as fulfilling all of the various specificdetails ranging from descriptions or effects. Falk (1989)rather dismissively asserts of Wasson's theory: "The onlyhalf-serious reason to expect hallucination as an effectof Soma-drinking in an Indian context is the well-knownLabasukta, RV 10.119. There it is said that some winged

creature, after consumption of Soma, touches sky and earthwith its wings." Geldner discusses the soma in Indie tradi-tion as a ritual beverage that is drunk and is an intoxicantor hallucinogenic (madira) (Watkins 1978; Geldner 1951).But even staunch critics of Wasson (Brough 1971 ) admittedthat partaking of soma can induce "an ecstatic stupor." Thisbrings up a point made by Houben (2003), who writes aninteresting article on the various identification controversies,and his agreement with Brough's chief objection to Wasson,which should be quoted in its entirety:(Brough) made an important observation. Quoting fromWasson's evidence on the consumption of fiy-agaric amongtribes in North-East Siberia, Brough points out that thereare repeated references to coma induced by the fly-agaric.Those who consume the mushroom attain '"an ecstatic stu-por" or are transported into "a state of unconsciousness".Being "in a stupor from three sun-dried agarics" the heroof one of Wasson's sources "is unable to respond to the callto arms. But time passes and the urgency grows, and whenthe messengers press their appeal to throw off his stupor hefinally calls for his arms." Brough rightly observes: "Here,it would seem, is a plant whose effects are totally unsuitableto stimulate Indra and human warriors for battle.

Wasson's own response was of the nature that Broughwas ignorant of chemistry and of the use of wine as a sac-rament, but space precludes a proper digression into thesedebates. Falk's (1989) conclusion in favor of ephedera asthe soma also uses this argument in ruling out Amanita mus-caria for "Indra in his knightly combat." But this article'sconsiderations of a martial application of Amanita muscariawould answer these objections by expanding the role of thisextraordinary mushroom from entheogen, medicine andaphrodisiac to a military application inspiring a combativefury in the warrior. This article is a humble attempt to insti-gate far more qualified experts to investigate and decipher adefinitive sottia symbolism linked with mushrooms that runslike a mycelial network underground coming to fruition invarious traditions of alchemy and Tantra. Primary sourcesand the richly symbolic artwork of Tantric and alchemicalgroups in the region will no doubt yield even more evidenceof an enduring legacy that cherished Amanita muscaria as amost holy sacrament. Finally. I suggest, and hope to explorefurther in a future article, that tea became a ritual substitutein the somalamrita rituals that spread with Buddhism intoKorea, Japan and Tibet from China. The most popuiar shapeof Puerh tea in Tibet is pressed into the shape of a mush-room.

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